28 | OCTOBER 26 • 2023 J
N

F

or University of 
Michigan student Atara 
Kresch, who says her 
“whole heart and life is in 
Israel,” standing by and watch-
ing the Hamas-Israel conflict 
unfold wasn’t an option.
With her family in Israel (see 
page 24), Kresch, 22, quickly 
mobilized.
“I’ve been feeling so hope-
less not knowing what to do,” 
Kresch wrote on Facebook at 
the start of the crisis, which 
saw Hamas launch an unprece-
dented attack on Israel on Oct. 
7. “This morning, there were 
anti-Israel pamphlets distribut-
ed all over campus.”
Unable to go to class without 
feeling “sick to her stomach,” 
Kresch and other Jewish stu-
dents organized a vigil at the 
University of Michigan Diag 
on Oct. 9 that saw more than 
1,000 students attend to show 
their support for Israel.

GATHERING SUPPLIES
Still, Kresch wanted to do 
more. She began fundraising 
alongside friends and family, 
and within just seven hours, 
raised more than $2,500 to buy 
supplies for Israeli soldiers.
Kresch and her friends 
ordered items “nonstop” on 
Amazon, and made trips to 
Walmart and Costco after the 
vigil to fill their vehicles with 
even more supplies for Israel. 
They spent the next two nights 
doing the same, with Kresch 
reporting barely sleeping at all.
However, Kresch knew she 
needed to be onsite to ensure 

safe delivery of the goods — 
and she desperately missed her 
family in Israel, wanting noth-
ing more than a hug from her 
mother.
Therefore, she didn’t even 
think twice before buying a 
plane ticket to Israel.
“We are now sitting here in 
my apartment in Ann Arbor, 
Michigan,” she said just prior 
to her flight to Ben-Gurion 
Airport on Oct. 11. “We are 
6,000 miles away from Israel 
packing up suitcases and writ-
ing letters supporting our sol-
diers and our friends.”
By then, Kresch and friends 
had raised more than $7,000, 
and as she prepared to board 
her flight on Wednesday, that 
number had quickly grown to 
around $12,000.
 In the days before taking 
off, Kresch spent the week 
coordinating with Israelis to 
learn what the biggest needs 
were. In particular, there were 
many requests for solar battery 

chargers.
With supplies collected, she 
boarded the first leg of her 
flight from Detroit to New York 
with three large duffle bags and 
a carry-on full of goods going 
directly to Israel.
However, Kresch wasn’t 
alone in her efforts, as New 
York’s JFK airport, where she 
had a layover before her flight 
to Tel Aviv, has served as an 
international hub of support 
for Israel.
Many stories of bravery and 
selflessness have trickled out 
of JFK, such as an anonymous 
man who bought 250 plane 
tickets for Israel-bound IDF 
reservists.
“I met someone at the air-
port, and we are currently 
coordinating trying to get vests 
for [army] units,” Kresch said 
upon arriving at JFK. “There 
were so many bags [full of sup-
plies]. It was beautiful to see.”
Kresch says after landing 
in Israel, one of her duffel 

bags made it through, and the 
other two were stuck in transit, 
though she was hopeful they’d 
be delivered that day.
In just a few hours of being 
in Israel, Kresch was already 
able to help distribute packages 
to the south, which has faced 
immense devastation from 
Hamas, and some to northern 
Israel. More packages are on 
their way to other regions in 
the country.
“We’re not stopping,” she 
says. “There’s a lot of good hap-
pening.”
Critical donations raised by 
Kresch and her community 
have bought helmet covers for 
various IDF units and shelves 
for medical units struggling to 
organize medical supplies to 
treat wounded individuals.
Still, Kresch says the work 
has just begun.
“I’m so proud to be Jewish,” 
she says. “I’m so proud to call 
this place my home.” 

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ATARA KRESCH

Atara Kresch has landed in Israel with bags of supplies for soldiers.

U-M Student Raises 
Nearly $12,000 for Israel

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

Some of the 
supplies she 
collected for 
IDF soldiers.

Atara Kresch loads up her 
car’s trunk with supplies 
before heading to the airport.

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